450 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



one of the captain's cousins give up the effort to keep herself 

 afloat, and fall back and drown." This lieutenant, surviving 

 the rest, hailed the seven men in the yawl, by whom he was 

 taken in, as were also the pilot and the quartermaster. These 

 ten persons were all that were saved out of the three hundred 

 who composed the vessel's crew. The frigate soon blew up ; and, 

 after this frightful scene of her expiring agony, all relapsed into 

 silence. 



The lieutenant assumed the command of the boat, and, rowing 

 to the remains of the wreck, ordered a search for stores and 

 other articles of which they had pressing need. They found a 

 keg of brandy, fifteen pounds of salt pork, a piece of scarlet 

 cloth, twenty yards of coarse linen, and a quantity of staves 

 and ropes. With the scarlet and an oar they made a mast and 

 sail, with a key they made a pulley, and with a stave a rudder. 

 With this equipment, and without astronomical instruments, 

 they started upon their adventurous voyage, being six hundred 

 miles distant from the coast of Brazil. 



Here, at night, while sailing quietly along, they were aston- 

 ished at the brilliant chains of phosphorescence which made the 

 whole sea appear as though on fire. There were no flames, but 

 over the whole surface of the water, winding and intertwisted 

 chains of glowing light were spread, forming a scene of marvel- 

 lous beauty. To them the appearance w T as inexplicable. 



Favored by a brisk breeze, they sailed during eight days, 

 making seventy-five miles every twenty-four hours. They were 

 nearly naked, and suffered terribly from exposure to the rays of 

 a tropical July sun. On the sixth day, a light rain gave them 

 the hope of satisfying their devouring thirst. They licked the 

 drops from the sail, but found them already bitterly impregnated 

 with salt. They suffered as much from hunger as thirst; for the 

 salt pork, which had been found to cause blood-spitting, had been 

 abandoned on the fourth day. A draught of brandy from time 

 to time revived them somewhat, but burned their stomachs with- 



